Category: 2021

Azerbaijani authorities continue to violate the rights of residents of Armenia’s border villages

Emil Lazarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 2 2021

The Azerbaijani authorities continue to violate the internationally recognized rights of the border residents of Armenia, Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan says.

In particular, the Ombudsman says, on January 22, 2021, the Azerbaijani military installed a sign reading “Welcome to Azerbaijan” in Azerbaijani and English and an Azerbaijani flags on the inter-community road from the Armenian city of Kapan to Chakaten and a number of other villages, that is, connecting peaceful settlements.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia has been receiving angry and anxious calls from the residents of Kapan, as well as the villages of Chakaten, Shikahogh, Srashen, Tsav, Nerkin Hand, Shishkert, especially in recent days. The same goes for placing flags on those sections of the road.

“The residents of these settlements have issued alarms that these steps of the Azerbaijani authorities are deliberate and are aimed at violating their physical security and mental rights, other property and vital rights, and violate the interests of children. They are demonstratively targeting civilians, and along with almost daily shootings, this is exacerbating tensions in the mentioned Armenian villages, Tatoyan says.

Immediately after these alarms, a detailed study was initiated in the Syunik regional and central subdivisions of the Human Rights Defender’s Office. Field observations were made, a number of discussions with residents were held.

As a result, the mentioned alarms of the residents of Kapan community and community bodies were confirmed.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia deems it necessary to consider these steps of the Azerbaijani authorities at least from the point of view of the following factors:

1) The state policy of organized hatred and enmity of Armenians continues in Azerbaijan;

2) The highest authorities of Azerbaijan openly speak about the Armenian people in a language of ethnic cleansing and genocide, insulting the dignity of the entire Armenian people;

3) There are open calls for a new war against Armenia in Azerbaijan, including by people with public recognition and even human rights defenders in the country;

4) This is accompanied by the immediate proximity of the mentioned villages of the Kapan community of Armenia. For more than a month now, the Azerbaijani military has been firing from small and large weapons, including being drunk, as the villagers observed;

5) On the way from Kapan to Chakaten village, there are Azerbaijani soldiers, armed people;

6) The process of determining the borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan, in the framework of which such signs and flags were placed and Azerbaijani soldiers appeared on the road, is a serious human rights violation and a danger to the border residents of Armenia, contradicts the foundations of the international human rights system and the rule of law, therefore has no legal force.

7) The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan have committed and continue to commit torture, inhuman treatment and other war crimes against the military and civilians of the Armenian side, especially during the September-November 2020 war.

Therefore, the Ombudsman says, it is obvious that the mentioned steps of the Azerbaijani military were taken in a way that violates the rights of the residents of the Armenian border settlements, openly intimidating them (first of all, children and women).

According to Arman Tatoyan, this situation cannot contribute to peace in the region in any way, it only causes tension, violates the internationally recognized rights and interests of civilians guaranteed by the Armenian Constitution.

Reports on these facts will be sent to international organizations, including the OSCE, the UN, the Council of Europe (with the necessary evidence). Separate reports will also be sent to special mechanisms of intergovernmental organizations.

Syrian mercenaries should leave Karabakh conflict zone, CSTO chief says

Garnik Zakarian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 2 2021
– Public Radio of Armenia

Mercenaries from Syria must leave Nagorno-Karabakh, their activities near the CSTO countries pose risks to the collective security of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said at an online briefing, RIA Novosti reports.

“We had information about the presence and actions of militants from Syria in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone,” Zas said.

“We proceed from the premise that any Syrian mercenaries, militants must leave this territory, stop their activities, because the creation of detachments, groups of militants, illegal armed formations directly near the borders of the CSTO member countries are certain risks for our collective security,” he pointed out.

MEPs urge to resume negotiations on Karabakh conflict settlement

Maral Chavushian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 2 2021

– Public Radio of Armenia

Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, MEP Marina Kaljurand, the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur on Armenia, MEP Andrey Kovatchev, and the European Parliament’s Standing Rapporteur on Azerbaijan, MEP Željana Zovko, on the need to resume negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The statement reads:

Last year’s war between Armenia and Azerbaijan was a terrible
human tragedy,

We applaud the fact that the situation has stabilized after the agreement of 9 November 2020 and that – apart from deplorable but isolated incidents – the ceasefire has been respected, but a lot more is necessary to achieve much-needed reconciliation.

Negotiations on a lasting settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and on the region’s future legal status remain as indispensable as ever. We call on both parties to reaffirm clearly and publicly their willingness to re-engage in the process led by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs and founded on the group’s Basic Principles that they themselves agreed to, reflecting the Helsinki Final Act principles of non-use of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples. At a time of a fresh momentum brought about by the new US administration, we firmly reiterate the European Parliament’s – and, indeed, the European Union’s – continued support to this process and these principles.

The complete implementation of the ceasefire agreement is a necessary first step and it is regrettable that the exchange of prisoners of war has not been carried out fully yet. We welcome last week’s release of several of the Armenian servicemen captured after the end of hostilities and appeal to Azerbaijan to release the rest, so that trust can be rebuilt.

We also urge the parties to ensure fully unhindered access of international organizations for the purposes of humanitarian assistance and the protection of cultural heritage. These issues underline even
more the need for renewed multilateral efforts to support finding a lasting solution to the conflict

Armenia Protection Monitoring Report – Round #1

Garnik Tadevosian
Relief Web
Feb 2 2021
Format
Assessment
Source
  • UNHCR
Posted
2 Feb 2021
Originally published
15 Jan 2021
Origin
View original
  • Download document(PDF | 605.37 KB)

OPERATIONAL CONTEXT

On 27 September 2020, heavy clashes broke out along the line of contact (LoC) and quickly expanded to other areas in and around Nagorno-Karabakh (NK). Several internationally negotiated attempts to end the conflict were unsuccessful, and violence intensified, until a 9-point ceasefire agreement brokered by the Russian Federation was signed between the parties during the night of 9-10 November. During the six weeks of conflict, several civilian casualties were reported and many houses and public infrastructure in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, such as schools, roads and communication networks, were destroyed. As a result, at the peak of the crisis, it is estimated that the majority of the population living in Nagorno-Karabakh, had fled to Armenia.

According to the Armenian Migration Service, some 90,000 persons are registered to be in a refugee-like situation in Armenia, spread out across the ten marzes of the country , and Yerevan. The vast majority among them (around 88 percent) are women and children . At the same time, various reports indicate that between 20,000 to 50,000 individuals have gone back to Nagorno-Karabakh since mid-November, but the nature and sustainability of these returns are yet to be determined. While the ceasefire agreement is currently holding, concerns have emerged due to punctual incidents, which could affect the willingness of the population from Nagorno-Karabakh to return.
Considering the winter season combined with the severely damaged infrastructure and concerns over security leading to the inability of most of the refugee-like population to go back to their homes, it is likely that the majority of this population will opt to remain in Armenia during the coming winter months.

The host communities, warmly welcomed the refugee-like population from Nagorno-Karabakh, sharing their accommodation, food and available resources. The Government provided some communal shelters for the new arrivals and lately has been rolling out several cash-based support programmes for the affected population.

The recent conflict and the impact it has had on host communities and refugee-like populations – ranging from physical, social, mental and financial – is also adding pressure on institutions and their capacities to understand, coordinate, finance and address essential needs. Previously socio-economically stable households may face high challenges to pay rental fees, utilities and provide food as their household sizes significantly increase as a result of hosting refugee-like families from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Primary country
  • Armenia
Source
  • UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Format
  • Assessment
Themes
  • Education
  • Food and Nutrition
  • Health
  • Protection and Human Rights
  • Shelter and Non-Food Items
  • Water Sanitation Hygiene
Language
  • English

No evidence of militants’ return from Karabakh to Syria – post-Soviet security bloc

Manouk Vasilian
TASS, Russia
Feb 2 2021
CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said Russian peacekeepers, Armenia and Azerbaijani forces are in control of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh

MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) has no information on the return of militants from the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Syria, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said at a TASS-hosted press conference on Tuesday.

“We have information that militants from Syria were active in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. We viewed it as a threat to our countries and our bloc. It’s hard for me to say where the militants are now and if they are still there,” Zas pointed out.

According to him, Russian peacekeepers, Armenia and Azerbaijani forces are in control of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. “We believe that all mercenaries and Syrian militants should leave the region because the presence of militant groups in close proximity to our borders poses a threat to our collective security,” the CSTO secretary general emphasized.

Russia and Turkey open joint military center in Azerbaijan

Karagyozian Lena
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 2 2021
Joshua Kucera Feb 2, 2021

Turkey and Russia have opened a joint military facility in Azerbaijan to help monitor the ceasefire with Armenia, a stark indicator of the shifting geopolitics in the region.

The center formally opened on January 30, near the village of Giyameddinli in the Aghdam region. Staffed by an equal number of Russian and Turkish troops – 60 on each side – it is novel in a number of ways. It represents the first formal Turkish military presence in the Caucasus in more than a century, and the first Russian military presence on Azerbaijani-controlled territory since Baku effectively kicked the Russians out of a radar facility in Gabala eight years ago. It also is a rare case of direct military cooperation between the two historical foes who have lately become custodians of a shaky security condominium in their shared neighborhood. 

Official information about the center’s precise mission is scarce. But according to a dispatch from the center in the Russian newspaper Izvestiya, the primary mission appears to be as a base for surveillance drones to monitor the new ceasefire lines between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. The Russian troops use Orlan-10 and Forpost drones; the Turks use Bayraktars. The intelligence is used to support the 2,000-strong Russian peacekeeping contingent that operates on the territory in Nagorno-Karabakh that Armenian forces still control.

The two contingents appear to work in parallel, and there is no single commander: each side has its own general in command. Even the formal name of the center avoids favoring one side over the other. In Turkish, it is called the “Turkish-Russian Joint Center,” while in Russian the proper names are the other way around: “Joint Russian-Turkish Center.”

“Information from the drone reaches the headquarters of the Russian contingent, where it is processed and transmitted to the monitoring center,” Izvestiya’s source, one Colonel Zavalkin, reported. (He didn’t report on how the Turkish drone operations worked, and there don’t appear to have been any comparable dispatches from Turkish reporters.) “There, service members of the two countries jointly serve round-the-clock.”

“The monitoring center decides how to react when the ceasefire is violated,” Colonel Zavalkin continued. “This is where the authority of the center is the broadest. It can pass the information on to the command of the Russian peacekeepers or by direct line to the defense structures of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

The operational role of the center appears secondary, however – Russian drones were already monitoring the ceasefire, and the addition of Turkish forces is unlikely to cardinally improve that capability. The significance appears to be more about the emerging regional politics around the Caucasus.

The center was born out of the November 10 ceasefire statement that ended the 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which resulted in Azerbaijan winning back most of the land it had lost to Armenians in the first war between the two sides in the 1990s.

The original ceasefire statement – signed by Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan – did not stipulate the creation of this center, or for that matter any role for Turkey at all. In that agreement, the Russian peacekeeping force has the sole responsibility for monitoring compliance. But following the signing of that deal, Russia and Turkey negotiated bilaterally to set up this center, signing an agreement on December 1. The structure itself was constructed by Azerbaijan.

The diplomacy that led to the agreement was opaque but it’s obvious that of all the interested parties, Azerbaijan and Turkey were by far the most desirous of the center, with Russia not nearly as enthusiastic and Armenia even less so.

Azerbaijan got substantial support, both militarily and politically, from Turkey during the war and the two countries’ relations are now as warm as they have ever been. Baku especially has sought to deepen its ties with Ankara in the aftermath of the war and sees Turkey as a means of balancing out a newly reinvigorated but potentially pro-Armenia Russian influence in the region.

There appear to have been three main drivers for the center’s creation, said Hasan Selim Özertem, an Ankara-based analyst of Turkey and the Caucasus. “First, after supporting Azerbaijan during the war, Turkey seems to be interested in keeping a foothold in the region as a show of power projection,” Özertem told Eurasianet.

“Second, Azerbaijan wants to keep Turkey in the equation to balance Russia,” Özertem said. And finally, the joint operation helps Russia and Turkey sideline outside actors: “So, Turkey gains leverage in international politics, particularly against the West, as a factor in the region that cannot be ignored, while also establishing a link with Moscow,” he said.

Azerbaijan’s favoring of Turkey was made clear in the twin press releases put out by the Azerbaijani defense ministry describing parallel talks at the center’s opening on January 30 with the military leadership of Russia and Turkey. The two releases repeated much of the same language word-for-word, but one praised “the eternity and inviolability of the Azerbaijani-Turkish brotherhood” – a level of effusion entirely missing from the description of Russian-Azerbaijani ties. And Turkish Deputy Defense Minister Yunus Emre Karosmanoğlu reportedly “congratulated the Azerbaijani people on the victory in the Patriotic War, wished the mercy of Allah Almighty to the souls of all servicemen and civilians who died as Shehid [martyrs] and healing to the wounded.” His Russian counterpart, Colonel General Alexander Fomin, did not offer any similar sentiment.

Russian officials, meanwhile, have tended to downplay the significance of the new center. “This is a stabilizing factor, but I wouldn’t call it an element of a long-term policy or create any conspiracy theories here,” Dmitriy Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the national security council, told journalists on February 1. “We just need to recognize the reality in our region, that today we need to discuss this issue with our partners in Turkey.”

That new order was also noticed, ruefully, among Armenians. “What does this Russian-Turkish monitoring group mean? One simple thing: Russia is continuing its policy of bypassing the Minsk Group,” said political analyst Stepan Grigoryan, in an interview with Armenian news site 1in.am, referring to the diplomatic body led by Russia, France, and the United States which used to broker negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan but which has been sidelined since last year’s war.

Grigoryan was asked why Armenia allowed the creation of the center. “No one asked us,” he said. “It is clear that our opinion was ignored.”

 

Joshua Kucera is the Turkey/Caucasus editor at Eurasianet, and author of The Bug Pit.

Turkey, Azerbaijan Begin Joint Military Drills Near Armenian Border

Liana Toganian
Big News Network
Feb 2 2021

Turkey and Azerbaijan have begun large-scale joint military exercises in eastern Anatolia near the border with Armenia.

The winter military exercises, set to run from February 1 to 12 near the city of Kars, are the latest sign of deepening ties between the Turkic allies after Turkey threw its weight behind Azerbaijan in its victory against ethnic Armenian forces in a six-week war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement the drills are intended to ensure combat coordination and capabilities under winter conditions.

On Twitter, it posted a video of two combat helicopters saluting the Turkish flag above Kars castle.

On January 30, a joint Turkish-Russian observation center to monitor the cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh began operations inside Azerbaijan, giving Ankara a greater footprint in the South Caucasus.

Under the Russian-brokered cease-fire agreement reached on November 9, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years under the control of ethnic Armenians.

More than 4,700 people were killed in the flare-up of violence.

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036

Turkish Press: Azerbaijan says Armenian army violated cease-fire

Arpi Talalian
Anadolu Agency, Turkey
Feb 2 2021

Ruslan Rehimov   | 02.02.2021

Azerbaijan says Armenian army violated cease-fire

BAKU, Azerbaijan 

The Armenian army violated the cease-fire along the border with Azerbaijan in the early hours of Tuesday morning, authorities said.

According to a statement by the State Border Service of Azerbaijan, its border and fighting posts came under fire of the Armenian army from the occupied Ashagi Askipara village of Azerbaijan’s Gazakh region. Armenian troops used machine guns for firing 20 times.

Relations between the former Soviet republics had been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognized as an Azerbaijani territory, and seven adjacent regions.

When new clashes erupted on Sept. 27, 2020, the Armenian army launched attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces and violated several humanitarian cease-fire agreements.

During the 44-day conflict, Azerbaijan liberated several cities and nearly 300 settlements and villages from the nearly three-decade-long occupation.

In November, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russian-brokered peace deal to end fighting.

Despite the cease-fire deal, the Armenian army several times violated the agreement and martyred several Azerbaijani soldiers and a civilian, according to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.

On Saturday, Turkish and Russian troops started to monitor the truce in Upper Karabakh. It came after the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding following the truce to set up a joint center on Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenia’s occupation to monitor the cease-fire.

*Writing by Ahmet Gencturk in Ankara

Aurora supports creation of Digital Matenadaran

Lilit Nahapetian
Public Radio of Armenia
Feb 2 2021
– Public Radio of Armenia

TheAurora Humanitarian Initiative has allocated a US $10,000 grant to the Matenadaran, the national repository of ancient manuscripts named after Mesrop Mashtots, to help it create Digital Matenadaran and present its main exhibition hall online.

This new project will give visitors an opportunity to take a virtual walk around the central hall of one of the world’s largest museums of Armenian manuscripts. Digital Matenadaran, planned to occupy a new section at the Matenadaran’s website, will be designed as a virtual exhibition with both text and audio descriptions.

It will allow users to virtually stroll through the exhibition and to study more than 100 items of manuscript treasures, including exclusive samples of Armenian miniatures, presented in high-resolution digitalized copies with zoom-in options.

“It’s no longer possible to imagine our lives without use of high technologies. The world’s leading museums pay special attention to the organization of interactive exhibitions and displays, which would be available on online platforms as well. This project is another important milestone in popularizing the rich cultural heritage kept at the Matenadaran through the digital platform and making it more available to the world. And in this important endeavor, we have the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative next to us,” said Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan, Director of Matenadaran.

The new project, Digital Matenadaran, will allow people from around the world to virtually wander around the exhibitions while getting insightful descriptions provided in several languages and accompanied by medieval Armenian music in the background.

“In the five years since the launch of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, it has always been an honor to support the Matenadaran. Aurora was founded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide, and promoting Armenian heritage and history remains one of the core values on its agenda. As the coronavirus pandemic affected museums worldwide, going online and curating virtual experiences became critical to maintain a meaningful connection with the visitors. Aurora is delighted to be able to assist the Matenadaran in this much-needed endeavor,” noted Vartan Gregorian, Co-Founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.

This is Aurora’s fifth grant to the Matenadaran, allocated within the Aurora Grants program and in accordance with the Memory Act. Through the Aurora Grants, the descendants of the Armenian Genocide survivors seek to honor the memory of their ancestors’ saviors by supporting educational initiatives and preserving Armenian heritage while promoting awareness of humanitarian efforts and Armenian history.

In 2015, funds from Aurora enabled the Matenadaran to purchase a special scanner to digitize manuscripts. More than 4324 manuscripts, archival documents and antiquarian books have been digitized to date thanks to this equipment. The 2016 grant funded the training of ten guides in Germany, while in 2017-2020, Aurora helped the Matenadaran organize more than 50 lectures for scholars and researchers and create an interactive map of Armenian scriptoria while supporting its other educational and academic programs.

Medvedev says cooperation with Turkey is not a long-term solution in Nagorno-Karabakh

Emma Jilavian
AHVAL News
Feb 1 2021

  • Feb 02 2021 12:01 Gmt+3
  • Last Updated On: Feb 02 2021 12:06 Gmt+3

Dmitriy Medvedev, Russia’s deputy chairman of the Security Council, said cooperation with Turkey in Nagorno-Karabakh was not a long-term solution to the conflict, Russian state-run TASS reported on Monday. 

Medvedev remarked that it was a necessity to work with Turkey in the region because of its close relationship with Azerbaijan. He noted that “this factor cannot be ignored” and that Russia sees Turkey as an important partner. 

“We have a productive dialogue, our president constantly communicates with [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan] on this issue,” he said.

Turkey was not a signatory to the ceasefire last year that ended the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, despite the overwhelming support it provided to Baku. According to the terms of the truce, Turkey would be permitted to send a military contingent to operate alongside Russia but no peacekeeping forces.

On Saturday, the  joint monitoring centre was opened by representatives of Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan in the Aghdam district of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Despite this cooperation, Medvedev insists that it did not represent a long-term solution to ending all hostilities over the disputed region. He described the centre’s opening as simply a stabilisation measure. 

“But I would refrain from treating it as an element of some long-term policy or build a conspiracy theory here. We were simply obliged to take the realities in our region into account. And the reality is that this issue must be discussed with the Turkish partners,” Medvedev said.